Utterly Noob ? What happens to light?

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Discussion Overview

The discussion revolves around the nature of light, specifically what happens to photons when a light source is turned off. Participants explore concepts related to the behavior of light, absorption, reflection, and the implications of hypothetical materials that do not absorb light. The conversation includes both conceptual inquiries and speculative scenarios.

Discussion Character

  • Exploratory
  • Conceptual clarification
  • Debate/contested
  • Mathematical reasoning

Main Points Raised

  • One participant questions why light cannot be seen after turning off a light switch and wonders about the fate of photons.
  • Another explains that photons are absorbed or reflected by objects in the room, and when the light is turned off, no new photons are created.
  • Some participants propose a hypothetical scenario where a room is lined with a material that does not absorb light, questioning if the room would remain lit after the light is turned off.
  • There is a discussion about the implications of such a material, including the necessity for all objects in the room, including the observer, to not absorb light.
  • One participant suggests that if nothing absorbs light, the observer would not see anything, as the photons would not interact with their eyes.
  • Another participant introduces the idea that if light were not absorbed, the room could feel extremely hot due to the accumulated energy from the light bulb.
  • Participants engage in calculations regarding the energy output of a light bulb and its potential effects on temperature, discussing the nuances of heat transfer and energy absorption.
  • A later post raises questions about the mass of light and its interaction with gravity, leading to a discussion about the relationship between energy and mass as described by E=mc².
  • Several participants express enthusiasm for the complexity and order of physics as a field of study.

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

Participants generally agree on the basic behavior of photons and their absorption but engage in speculative scenarios that lead to differing views on the implications of hypothetical materials and the nature of light. The discussion remains unresolved regarding the feasibility of such materials and the consequences of their existence.

Contextual Notes

Some assumptions are made regarding the properties of materials that do not absorb light, which may not be physically realizable. The discussion also touches on complex interactions between light, matter, and energy without reaching definitive conclusions.

Who May Find This Useful

This discussion may be of interest to those exploring the fundamental nature of light, energy absorption, and the implications of theoretical materials in physics.

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Utterly Noob "?" What happens to light?

Hey, this is my first post, and I know this is a rather rudimentary question. But, I've always wondered, why can't you see light after you turn off a light switch. Is light photons, and if that's the case what happens to them when electricity stops going to the light. They don't just "die" do they? What form (of matter/energy) do they change into after we can't see them anymore?
 
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Photons travel from the light out to everything in the room (including you) at the speed of light. When they hit objects, they are absorbed or reflected. When they are reflected toward your eyes, you see the object they were reflected from.

When you turn off the light, no more photons are created by the light and the photons bouncing around the room are quickly absorbed by the walls, furniture, floor, and you.

Welcome to PF!
 
I see, that makes sense. Thank you.
 
And other photons escape through the window or out your door... etc...
 
"What form (of matter/energy) do they change into after we can't see them anymore?"

A rise in temperature of the objects in the room.
 
russ_watters said:
Photons travel from the light out to everything in the room (including you) at the speed of light. When they hit objects, they are absorbed or reflected. When they are reflected toward your eyes, you see the object they were reflected from.

When you turn off the light, no more photons are created by the light and the photons bouncing around the room are quickly absorbed by the walls, furniture, floor, and you.

Welcome to PF!

Lets assume that I have some kind of material that does not absorb light what so ever. I mean, the material keeps reflecting the light back into the environment.

Now I use it as the lining in the walls of a certain room that has a small light bulb. Is it possible that the room will stay lit even after I switch off the light bulb?
 
You'd have to coat the bulb and its assembly too, or it would absorb the photons as well. Actually, jump to this thread.
 
nesna said:
Lets assume that I have some kind of material that does not absorb light what so ever. I mean, the material keeps reflecting the light back into the environment.

Now I use it as the lining in the walls of a certain room that has a small light bulb. Is it possible that the room will stay lit even after I switch off the light bulb?
Sure, but you'd never know it since if you entered the room, you'd quickly absorb all the light in it yourself!
 
  • #10
nesna - Another interesting thing with that type of setup. Let's say nothing in the room absorbs light (including yourself). What would you see?

This is interesting because in order to see a wall, for example, light hits the electrons which are part of the wall and the electrons absorb the photons and emit them. They are emitted such that when that photon reaches your eye you recognize it as, brick or wood, or whatever the wall is made of. But in your example, they are not absorbing and emitting with 100% re-emission, instead the electrons are not absorbing and re-emitting, so the photon carries the same properties as it had when it was generated by the light bulb. So at best you would see (read below before replying to this) a bright blur most likely.

That being said, you wouldn't actually see anything if your eyes did not absorb the photons, because that's how the electrical impulses reach your brain to tell you what you're seeing. And if you let everything perfectly reflect except for your eyes, then when you turned the lights out you would probably see that bright blur start to dim pretty quickly until it was gone; but it wouldn't be instantaneous.
 
  • #11
russ_watters said:
Sure, but you'd never know it since if you entered the room, you'd quickly absorb all the light in it yourself!
Consider the implications of this. That lightbulb has been pouring photons into the room for an arbitrary length of time none of which are being re-absorbed. If you stepped into that room, you'd be stepping into a blast furnace.
 
  • #13
russ_watters said:
You can handle a blast furnace for a nanosecond.
I dunno. I'd be interested in someone smarter than me putting some numbers to this.

What is the total energy that a light bulb puts out in, say, 5 minutes?
Then, how hot would you get if you received that input of energy?
 
  • #14
Well, I know its a weird unit transition, but its the units I deal with at work...

100 watts for 5 minutes is 28 btuh, which is enough energy to heat 1lb of water 28 degrees F or 28lb of water 1 degree.
 
  • #15
russ_watters said:
Well, I know its a weird unit transition, but its the units I deal with at work...

100 watts for 5 minutes is 28 btuh, which is enough energy to heat 1lb of water 28 degrees F or 28lb of water 1 degree.
OK. So that would heat your (or at least, my) whole body about 0.15 degrees. That tells us about the temperature rise of a volume, after enough time to have the heat diffuse, but doesn't tell us a lot about the heat as applied to the body's surface area instantly.
 
  • #16
It would be very weird to step into this room.

It would be very tricky to get into this room without "letting all the light out"**...

**Can't beliieve I'm saying that with a straight face but, with the premises we've made, this is an apt way of describing the sitch.

...but it could be done using an antechamber.

Also, you'd be wearing a suit lined with the same materials as the walls. And you couldn't see anything either...

...

No wait. It wouldn't be weird at all in this room. There is no way at all for you to view what is happening in this room. The moment you could see, the light would "escape".
 
  • #17
DaveC426913 said:
OK. So that would heat your (or at least, my) whole body about 0.15 degrees. That tells us about the temperature rise of a volume, after enough time to have the heat diffuse, but doesn't tell us a lot about the heat as applied to the body's surface area instantly.
Well, the point about your skin was to show that you could heat up you skin 2.8 degrees. Or the outer 1/10th of your skin by 28 degrees. This isn't enough to cause a problem.
 
  • #18
Huh. So if you stepped into that room wearing the outift, and then whipped off the helmet, it might look really bright and then fade fast. That'd be weird.
 
  • #19
This has brought me to a new question, I've understood thus far everything, however. I read light doesn't have a mass, if that's true why can black holes bend light. Next if light does in fact have a mass then regardless of how insignificant, than does the wall or the person gain mass as they absorb light?
 
  • #20
MagikRevolver said:
I read light doesn't have a mass, if that's true why can black holes bend light. Next if light does in fact have a mass then regardless of how insignificant, than does the wall or the person gain mass as they absorb light?
The basic idea is that gravity doesn't directly bend light, rather mass curves spacetime. And then light just travels it's normal "straight" (geodesic) path through the curved spacetime.

MagikRevolver said:
Next if light does in fact have a mass then regardless of how insignificant, than does the wall or the person gain mass as they absorb light?
Yes. Since E=mc^2 when you absorb light you gain energy and therefore mass.
 
  • #21
Wow, physics is absolutely amazing. I love reading all these responses and asking these questions. It is just so amazing to learn how complex yet orderly the universe is.
 
  • #22
Yes. Physics is way cool.
 

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